THE REAL VOTER SUPPRESSION COMES BEFORE THE VOTING BOOTHS OPEN.

The wrong way for libertarian-minded tories to punish Republicans for Donald Trump is to vote for Democrats.  That way gets you a Joe Biden running as a corporatist Democrat yet getting rolled by the communist wing of his party.  There might have been people who protested against the Obama presidency taking the Democrats too far left by voting for Republicans, and we might have seen some of that at work in Congressional elections two years ago.

When the manifestoes of the major political parties bundle too much foolishness with a few good ideas, I'd really like to have something other than primary challenges as the best way to influence legislation.

For the 2022 election cycle, [Angela] Pence decided to throw her own hat into the ring, by running against Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in the race to represent Georgia's 14th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. Greene, in just a single term, has garnered a reputation as a kook, spreading outlandish conspiracy theories ranging from defending QAnon, to suggesting that California wildfires were intentionally caused by lasers from outer space. Just last month, Greene appeared as a speaker at a white nationalist political conference. There would seem to be plenty of room for a competitor.

But before someone like Pence can make her case to voters, she has to clear another hurdle: Georgia's ballot access laws.

That's a research topic for election scholars: do primary challenges that shift the focus of the major parties gradually more effectively than challenges from additional parties?  Yes, even if one of the additional parties is the Stalin wing of the communist parties?

The law was initially passed in 1943, at a time when the state was also barring Communists from running for office. Perhaps not surprisingly, since 1943, not one single third-party candidate has made it onto the ballot for a districted race in Georgia. Last year, on a challenge from the Georgia [Libertarians], a district court tossed the 5-percent rule, replacing it with a rule only requiring signatures from one-percent of registered voters. But earlier this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the requirement.

Ryan Graham, chair of the Georgia [Libertarians], tells Reason that the steep signature requirement handicaps the party's ability to "build the bench," recruiting candidates for local races who can gain political experience and potentially go on to higher office. Pence says that after the appeals court reinstated the 5-percent rule, at least five Georgia [Libertarian] candidates for office dropped out, citing the difficulty in obtaining that many signatures.

Representative Greene does face primary challenges. Ultimately, though, whether easier ballot access by additional parties influences policy more than primary challenges within the established parties remains to be seen.  As does the absence of those choices on voter participation, something Our Intellectual Betters keep fretting about.

In Georgia, any potential alternative parties—the Green Party, the Constitution Party, Democratic Socialists of America, the still-extant Prohibition Party — face the same seemingly insurmountable task just to qualify. That disparity makes it that much more difficult for a fringe candidate in a safe seat like Greene to face a serious challenger.

Some of those parties have qualified for the Illinois ballot, despite the state being a Chicago Democrat satrapy for years.